


Twinkling Lights

by devoosha



Series: Klancemas 2019 [5]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Christmas Decorating, Keith (Voltron) is a Good Boyfriend, Klancemas 2019, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-05
Updated: 2019-12-05
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:22:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21685978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/devoosha/pseuds/devoosha
Summary: Lance gets bad news from home, and Keith tries to make it better.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Series: Klancemas 2019 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1559779
Comments: 3
Kudos: 81
Collections: Klance: Into the Multiverse, Klasix Master Collection





	Twinkling Lights

**Author's Note:**

> Klancemas Day #5 Prompt - Decorating
> 
> This prompt I took literally, but used a little angst to set up the rest of the prompts.

**Twinkling Lights**

  
Lance trudged back to the dorm, stepping carefully to not fall on the icy sidewalk. Three feet of snow loomed on either side of him. He should be thrilled at this. A maze cut into the snow following the sidewalks. It was surreal to walk through these paths, looking at the figures of students on other sidewalks where you could only see their upper half. Normally this would amuse the shit out of him.

Not today. He was so worried about his Abuela.

Yesterday was such a good day. Classes canceled (he still couldn’t believe that was a thing). A little party at the dorm. Cuddles with Keith in their room, between eating pizza, sipping hot chocolate, and trading kisses. Watching two of his favorite Christmas movies – _‘Die Hard’_ (“YES Keith, it is a Christmas movie!”) and _‘Nightmare Before Christmas_ ’ (“You _have_ to love a movie you can watch on two holidays, Keith!”).

One phone call from his Mamá ruined everything.

Mamá assured him over and over that Abuela was all right. Sore and in pain, of course, but the old woman was as tough as a stubborn old tree. A fall and a broken hip wouldn’t bring her down for long. The prognosis for surgery was excellent, but it would take time to heal. His Tia, who lived with Abuela, happened to be out of town for the month on a vacation with her cousin, and Abuela had no one to help her after the surgery.

Mamá and Papá planned to leave for Cuba tomorrow, and would stay until the end of the year. Luis already had plans to go with his wife to Lisa’s parents in North Carolina, and Rachel decided to go with them. Marco and Veronica would accompany their parents to Cuba. The question was, what did Lance want to do?

He didn’t know Lisa’s family very well. He’d only met them once at the wedding. They were all nice and he liked them, but he thought it would be odd spending Christmas with people he had no connection to, other than he happened to be related to someone who married into the family. He knew his parents would get him a ticket for Cuba, but a discreet check of prices that morning appalled him. Last minute fare to Cuba from Michigan was outrageous – three times the amount of his flight to Miami. He didn’t want to do that to his parents.

Mamá said she could change his ticket to bring him home on January 2 and send him home the day after Three King’s Day. He could still see the family, even though the time was cut short. The original plan had him home for three and a half weeks – now it would be under a week. Her idea to celebrate Christmas the weekend he was home didn’t console him. It wasn’t the same. And to have Christmas blend immediately into Dia de los Tres Reyes made it all seem wrong.

Not that Lance was selfish about it. He understood completely. All he wanted was for his Abuela to be well. If it meant his parents had to be there, then he fully supported it. He couldn’t help it if it depressed him. He felt guilty over his sadness about it – his Abuela was hurting – but he was so excited to be with his family over the holidays and now, no matter what he chose, they wouldn’t all be together.

He was grateful Keith was there. He don’t know what he would have done if he’d been alone last night. Keith held him as he cried, awkwardly rubbing his back as Lance sobbed into his chest, telling him everything would work out all right. He smiled, the first smile all day, because he woke up tucked into Keith’s bed, while Keith stepped quietly around the room pulling his things together for class. Keith must have slept in Lance’s bunk to allow Lance to continue to sleep.

Keith, who expressed his happiness that Lance was awake, kissed his forehead, said again how sorry he was and that he was sure everything would work out. They’d talk at dinner, he assured Lance, then said goodbye, kissed his forehead again, and left with a little wave before shutting the door.

All he wanted to do right now was cuddle up to his boyfriend and let Keith comfort him more. It had been a long day, trying to concentrate on his professors when his mind was thousands of miles away on an island in the Caribbean. His heart ached for what he would miss this year, and for the seeming uncaring attitude of his siblings, who all seemed ok with the family split up for the holidays. At least Keith understood. And if he didn’t understand completely, he was there for Lance, which meant more to him than anything.

With another smile at that thought, he picked up his steps off the elevator, striding down the corridor to their door. He really couldn’t wait to see Keith now.

He almost thought he was in the wrong room when he opened the door. He even looked at the door front, which he had decorated with big construction paper cutouts of his and Keith’s names at the beginning of the semester. No, it was their room. With an expression of wonder, he stepped into the room and gently closed the door.

Their room was… _transformed_ was a good word. Twinkling Christmas lights were strung around the room, hung on any and every wall surface. Dozens of strings of them draped over the window, the wardrobe, the doors, as well as twisted around the bunkbed frame. A little fake tree, standing two feet tall, stood on Keith’s neat desk graced with blue and red ornaments and garland. Cheap cardboard decorations depicting Santa and Snowmen had been taped to their walls all around. There was even a blue fleece throw on Keith’s bed covered in white snowflakes.

The lights weren’t on, but the room didn’t need it. The glow from all the strings of light illuminated the room enough. It smelled like pine and Lance noticed a candle burning on the window ledge. 

“Do you like it?”

His eyes focused on Keith, who stood next to the bed looking at him with apprehension. His hands were in front of him so he could fidget with his fingers, a sign Lance recognized as anxiety. “I love it.”

Keith visibly relaxed. “Good.”

“How? Why did you do this?”

Keith shrugged, looking away from Lance – toward the little tree on his desk. “I hoped it would cheer you up. I know you’re upset about Christmas, so I wanted to try to give you a little bit of Christmas here in our room. I know it’s not perfect or anything. I didn’t have a lot to work with from the dollar store. But I got what I could,” he gestured vaguely. “I went there after class – they’d cleared the roads, so I walked over. They didn’t have much, but I still wanted to give you this.”

Lance’s heart burned, overwhelmed at what Keith had done. He knew Keith’s heart was big and generous, but Lance never expected this. He expected the comfort Keith gave him. It’s what you did for each other in a relationship. Or you were supposed to. Even a new one. But this was something else. This was love.

“It is perfect,” he whispered, tears filling his eyes. He reached up to wipe them away, unsure if they were sad tears for his situation, or happy tears. Keith’s smile was the evidence he needed to know they were the happy tears. “Thank you.”

He yanked off his coat and hung it, tossed his book bag into the corner, then finally got his arms around his boyfriend. “Thank you thank you thank you,” he whisper-chanted in Keith’s ear, squeezing Keith as hard as he could, trying to convey through the hug how much this meant to him.

“I wish I could do more.”

“Just being here for me is all I need.”

Keith tightened his hold around Lance’s waist. “I-I have something to ask you. And if you don’t want to, I won’t be offended. Please know that.”

Lance loosened his grip, as did Keith, so he could lean back and look Keith in the eye. “What?”

“If you want, I asked my brother about it today, and he was all for it. If you want,” Keith hesitated for a moment. “Would you like to spend Christmas with us?”

“With you?”

“Yeah. Come home with me. Shiro’s boyfriend will be there, but he’s pretty cool. My brother is pretty lame and corny and we don’t do a whole lot for the holidays, but you’re welcome to spend it with us.”

That possibility hadn’t occurred to Lance at all. It wouldn’t be strange or anything, he didn’t think. He and Keith were good friends. It was similar to the situation with Luis’ in-laws, but in this case, there were only two strangers to deal with as opposed to two dozen. It’d probably be awkward, since he and Keith were just starting their relationship, and he knew he’d still be sad to be away from his family, but the idea sounded perfect to him.

“Are you sure your brother’s ok with it?” Lance asked, stalling as he tried to decide what to do.

“Oh, yeah. He’s excited to meet you,” Keith assured him. “Look, I realize it’s a big step, since we only just got together. I get it. If you feel it’s too much too soon, it’s ok. I honestly don’t know how I’d feel if it were you asking me. I won’t feel bad if you decide to go to your family. I wanted to give you an option.”

Fuck, how the hell did Lance get so lucky to find someone who understood him so well? Who got him and wouldn’t be mad if Lance rejected his offer. Keith’s whole response decided it for Lance. “Can I talk to my parents first to see if they’re ok with it?”

“Of course. I would expect you to do that.”

“I’ll call them right now. If they’re ok with it, I want to go home with you. Can I tell you something?”

“You can tell me anything.”

Lance rested his hands on Keith’s arms – arms still wrapped around his waist. His fingers fiddled nervously with the fabric of his sleeves. “There was one thing I wasn’t looking forward to when I went home.”

“What was that?”

“Missing you.”

“Oh,” Keith said, his cheeks turning pink. “I was going to miss you too.” He hesitated again before leaning forward and pressing his forehead against Lance’s, and Lance thought that he loved how hesitant Keith was with him. Though he was hesitant, he still went through with whatever action he wanted to do. As if he were psyching himself up to do something he wasn’t sure Lance would like. It was endearing to Lance that Keith cared so much for him.

Cared so much he decorated their room in cheap and tacky Christmas decorations to make Lance smile. Cared so much he took a leap out of his comfort zone and invited Lance to spend Christmas with him. Cared so much he held Lance all evening as he cried, soothing him as best as Keith could. Cared so much he made it clear he’d be happy with whatever Lance chose to do. God, Lance was so happy he took the chance to tell Keith the other morning.

Keith continued, “I know you’re gonna miss your family, but I’ll try to give you the best Christmas I can. I promise.”

“You don’t know how much that means to me,” Lance said, his voice choked up. 

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on Tumblr @ devooshawrites!


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